THE 2016 IRISH GENERAL ELECTION - PR and the Local Link CHRIS TERRY
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FA I R
FRANCHISE
THE 2016 IRISH
GENERAL ELECTION
PR and the Local Link
C H R I S T ER RY
CONTENTS
Introduction 3
1. Lay of the Land 5
2. Keeping it Local 11
3. Diversifying the Dáil 15
4. Lessons for the UK 21
Conclusion 23
E L E C TO R A L R E F O R M S O C I E T Y 1
INTRODUCTION
The Electoral Reform Society has had a long relationship with
electoral reformers in Ireland – for decades the ERS covered ‘Great
Britain and Ireland’. Indeed, when two unsuccessful referendums
were held in Ireland, to change the system to First Past the Post
in 1959 and 1968, the ERS assisted the successful campaigns to
keep PR.
Ireland’s use of STV, the ERS’s preferred system, gives an
insight into the system’s advantages and disadvantages. While
there are obvious cultural, party system and wider differences,
the Irish experience provides valuable lessons as to the operation
of alternatives to First Past the Post in practice, and much that is
transferable to local and national levels of government in the UK.
This report sets out the context of the election and key features
of the Irish political and electoral system. It analyses the results,
and the impact of the voting system – before looking at the
operation of the constituency link, campaign materials and finally,
at gender diversity and the new quotas in operation. All these
elements offer telling insights into Irish politics – and some lessons
for the UK.
Acknowledgements
Irish First Past the Post referendum poster
The author would like to thank Alan Kinsella who was very
helpful in providing examples of leaflets for the constituency
link section. His website (irishelectionliterature.com) is an
excellent resource on Irish election literature.
E L E C TO R A L R E F O R M S O C I E T Y 3
1 L AY OF THE L AND
The Republic of Ireland’s political system is sometimes described
as a variant of the Westminster system. Several features are similar
to Westminster - for instance Ireland’s quasi-corporatist Senate
resembles the Lords in both form and function. Yet it also differs
from the British system, notably in the form of an entrenched
codified constitution, an activist court system and Ireland’s use of
STV (a working example of which is in the appendix) rather than a
majoritarian system such as Britain’s First Past the Post (FPTP).
Ireland’s party system’s roots lie in the Civil War of 1919 to
1921, with Fianna Fáil descending from those who opposed the
Anglo-Irish treaty and Fine Gael descending from those who sup-
ported it. Ireland’s traditional third party is the Labour Party, much
weaker than its European Labour and Social Democratic cousins.
Ireland has frequently seen the election of relatively large
“First Sitting of the 32nd Dáil” by Houses of the Oireachtas is licensed under CC BY 2.0
numbers of independents, and at times parties beyond these three
have also made their mark on Irish elections.
Before 2011 Irish politics was dominated by Fianna Fáil, the
largest party in every election from 1932 onwards. Despite Ireland’s
STV system, Fianna Fáil have formed majority governments on
six occasions since independence, and have frequently formed
minority governments. After a period of relative difficulty forming
governments in the 1980s, due to the international phenomenon
of party fragmentation, Fianna Fáil began to form coalitions from
1989 to the present day.
The 2008 international financial crisis hit Ireland heavily, and
resulted in massive anger against the dominant party, widely
perceived as guilty of both creating the conditions for the crisis and
having handled it badly. The 2011 election was, hence, a defining
election in Irish history as the governing Fianna Fáil slipped to
third place, and Fine Gael and Labour both gained a huge number
of seats. Opponents of proportional systems sometimes claim
E L E C TO R A L R E F O R M S O C I E T Y 5
Proportional Representation (PR) does not allow voters to readily The Irish Political and Electoral System
kick out an unpopular government, as first past the post suppos- Ireland’s system of government is broadly modelled on that of the
edly does. But here was an example under a PR system of a party UK. While Ireland has an elected President, the position is mainly
truly being ‘fired’ by voters - to devastating effect, as the party lost ceremonial in nature. A strongly codified constitution, which can
almost three quarters of its seats. only be changed by referendums, and an activist judiciary combine
The resulting Fine Gael/Labour coalition pursued a policy of to tie the hands of the government more than in the UK, however.
fiscal consolidation in response to the Eurozone crisis. Ireland The Oireachtas (parliament) is made up of two houses. The
was often seen as a poster child for austerity - however, such fiscal Seanad and the Dáil. The upper house, the Seanad (senate) is
measures have often been unpopular, including the introduction loosely modelled on the Lords with 43 Senators elected from five
of water charges (tap water was historically free in the Republic of special panels of nominees, such as the Labour panel (supposed to
Ireland) and an unpopular flat income tax known as the Universal represent organised labour), or the Agriculture panel (farmers and
Social Charge, introduced by the predecessor government but kept fisherman) by the Teachta Dála (TDs, members of the Dáil), sen-
by the new one. ators and local councillors. A further six are elected by graduates
This unpopularity particularly affected Labour as the junior of the University of Dublin and the National University of Ireland.
party, and as the parliamentary term went on Labour lost large Eleven are appointed by the Taoiseach (Prime Minister).
amounts of public support, particularly from left-wing voters disap- Senate reform has been a pressing issue in Ireland. A 2013
pointed by the party’s perceived embrace of austerity. The primary referendum on outright abolition failed by less than 2%. However,
beneficiaries were the left-wing republican Sinn Féin, who led polls the Senate is much weaker than the lower house, the Dáil, and is
at several points, and a series of minor parties and independents only able to delay legislation.
(at times Irish polls indicated that as many as one in three wished
to vote for an ‘other’ party or candidate). How it all works
Notable forces included the Anti-Austerity Alliance – People The Dáil, the lower house, is directly elected using the Single
Before Profit (AAA-PBP), a left-wing anti-austerity electoral Transferable Vote (STV) system.
alliance, Renua Ireland, a right-of-centre party founded by ejected There are 40 constituencies with between 3 and 5 members.
Fine Gael supporters and the Social Democrats, formed by three Voters are presented with a ballot paper in which they are asked
independent TDs - two of whom had previously been Labour to rank candidates for election by placing a 1 next to their most
TDs. The Independent Alliance, a grouping of independents who preferred candidate, 2 next to their second most preferred candi-
promised to take no whip except on issues of confidence and date, 3 next to their third and so on.
supply were also strong. A quota – the number of votes needed to win a seat - is calculat-
Having suffered from traditionally low levels of women’s ed using the following formula:
representation, the Irish government reacted by introducing gender
quotas, which were supported by the main opposition Fianna Fáil Quota=Votes/(Seats+1)+1
as well. The election would be the first to see the use of gender
quotas in Ireland and was a subject of some controversy in the This broadly means that a three member constituency will have
run-up to the election campaign, as several parties struggled to a quota equivalent to 25% of the vote plus one, a four member
reach the 30% quota. constituency will have a quota equivalent to 20% of the vote plus
The election was called for February 26th, slightly earlier than one and a five member constituency will have a quota equivalent to
necessary, in what many assumed was to avoid clashing with the 16.67% of the vote plus one.
one hundredth anniversary of the Easter Rising. If a candidate wins more of the first preference votes than the
quota then they are elected. Votes over the quota are redistributed
6 T H E I R I S H 2 016 G E N E R A L E L E C T I O N E L E C TO R A L R E F O R M S O C I E T Y 7
to other candidates on the basis of those voters’ second preferences A political earthquake?
(or further - as more candidates are eliminated, the next ‘set’ of The election saw the most fragmented result in Irish history. For
preferences are used). the first time, the major two parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael,
If no candidate reaches the quota then the lowest performing failed to win more than 50% of the vote between them. In contrast,
candidate is eliminated from the count. Their votes are then redis- the last pre-crash election in 2007 had seen them win 68.9% of
tributed in their entirety on the basis of preferences. This process the vote together. Ireland’s traditional third party, Labour, also
continues in a series of rounds until all seats are filled. collapsed, only just securing official party status in the Dáil (7
Due to this process it is possible for voters to vote for individual seats) and only beating the Anti-Austerity Alliance by one seat.
candidates while still delivering a proportional outcome. The In the place of these parties was a series of winners. Many
system also means voters can transfer votes to independents, and countries have seen the rise of various anti-establishment parties
within and between parties however they choose. and movements in recent years, along many different parts of the
political spectrum (e.g. Podemos in Spain, the Five Star Movement
OVER ALL RESULT1 in Italy and the Sweden Democrats). While Ireland saw the
left-wing, anti-austerity and Eurosceptic Sinn Féin gain votes and
Party 1st Pref Change Seats Change Seats seats, improving on its record haul in 2011 and becoming the third
% % party of Irish politics, its performance was a disappointment in
Fine Gael 25.5% -10.6% 50 -27 31.6% some regards. The anti-establishment vote instead seems to have
spread to a series of smaller parties and independents.
Fianna Fáil 24.3% +6.9% 44 +25 27.8%
The performance of the far-left AAA-PBP, the centre-left Social
Sinn Féin 13.8% +3.9% 23 +9 14.6% Democrats and the return of Ireland’s Green Party are notable,
Labour Party 6.6% -12.8% 7 -30 4.4% but perhaps most notable of all is the success of independents.
The Dáil has often featured large numbers of independents when
Anti-Austerity 3.9% New 6 +2 3.8%
Alliance / compared to other Western European legislatures, but this year 23
People Before were elected in a Dáil of just 158, almost 15% of the chamber. This
Profit represents a peculiarly Irish rebellion against political elites and
political parties and also reflects the ability of voters under STV to
Social 3.0% New 3 New 1.9%
Democrats
freely choose from among independents as well as candidates with
a party badge.
Green Party 2.7% +0.9% 2 +2 1.3%
The election produced a notably more proportionate election
Renua 2.2% New 0 New outcome than in the UK. Using a measure called DV (deviation
Independents 17.2% +4.7% 23 +8 14.6% from voting) score we can measure the proportionality of election
outcomes. DV Score gives us a figure equivalent to the percentage
Other Parties 0.7% -2.0% 0
of seats given to parties that was ‘unearned’ in an election. In
the UK general election of 2015 this figure was 24.0, in the Irish
general election of 2016 it was 10.4, a figure roughly half that of
the UK. But in some respects this may understate the true propor-
tionality of the election as this figure only includes first preference
1 Independents include slates of independents who cooperated but did not votes and many more voters will have seen their second or third
formally establish parties. The most notable is the Independent Alliance
preference elected.
which won 4.2% of first preferences and 6 seats, but also noteworthy is
‘Independents 4 Change’ who won 1.5% of first preferences and saw 4 TDs
elected.
8 T H E I R I S H 2 016 G E N E R A L E L E C T I O N E L E C TO R A L R E F O R M S O C I E T Y 9
2 KEEPING IT LOCAL
In Britain it is often the case that opponents of proportional
representation cite the constituency link of FPTP as a reason for
its support. Having a constituency link is indeed important to the
democratic culture of Britain, giving MPs an insight into the lives
of ordinary citizens, allowing for the championing of local issues
on the national stage and giving people a sense of connection to
their MP.
Yet Ireland’s political system demonstrates that PR and a
constituency link can go hand in hand.
As Ireland has 40 constituencies of between three and five
seats it is still possible for constituencies to fit local boundaries
fairly well, covering a city, (as, for instance, the four seat constit-
uency of Limerick City does) or a county (as the five seat Kerry
constituency does).
But campaigning in Ireland can often be even more local than
this. When deploying multiple candidates in a constituency it is
advantageous for a party to ‘balance’ their vote. This is done by
strategically encouraging supporters to put different candidates as
their 1st preference in different areas of a constituency, in order
to make sure that candidates have relatively sizeable numbers of
votes, so that none are eliminated early on by accident.
One of the easiest ways to achieve such balance is to divide
a constituency up into areas and ask voters in one part of the
constituency to ‘first preference’ one candidate, and to use further
preferences for other candidates. This is clearly aided by having
candidates from those different parts of the constituency, especial-
ly if they have a locally-established base of support.
Perhaps one of the most notable examples of vote balancing
in the election was by the Healy-Rae brothers, two independents
whose father Jackie Healy-Rae was the long-standing TD for Kerry.
Jackie’s son Michael Healy-Rae followed in his footsteps in 2011,
E L E C TO R A L R E F O R M S O C I E T Y 11
His number one priority is stated as the local
airport.
Independent candidates have perhaps
more reason than party ones to campaign
on the basis of local issues, as it is arguably
easier for party candidates to make promises
that are deliverable nationally. To the right
is a leaflet from long-running (since 1987)
Independent candidate Michael Lowry, from
Tipperary North. The language and priorities
are clearly locally-focused.
This is not a scientific study of Irish
election leaflets and we do not claim that
and Michael’s brother Danny ran alongside him in this election. they are representative of all Irish election
The siblings went as far as to distribute a map (previous page) of campaigning. Electioneering in Dublin,
the constituency marked with where supporters should support in particular, tends to be slightly less
each brother. The Healy-Rae brothers were subsequently both elect- constituency focused, given voters’ tendency
ed; in fact they were the first and second TDs returned in Kerry, to identify more with the city as a whole
with Michael being the top first preference winner in Ireland. (which accounts for 10 of Ireland’s 40
Similarly you can see local campaigning in action in the leaflet constituencies). Nevertheless, these leaflets
of Sligo-Leitrim’s John Perry who claims to be “delivering for Sligo” demonstrate a key aspect of Irish politics
(thus missing the County Leitrim part of his constituency) and – its localism within a framework that
listing the amount of investment secured for his constituents in provides for proportionality.
his leaflet. Irish elections produce broadly pro-
Meanwhile Renua’s Michael Farrington unsuccessfully attempt- portional outcomes, but the system also
ed to win re-election by focusing on his origins in the Eastern part encourages local representation. Indeed, a
of his Mayo constituency. 1997 study comparing constituency activity
Martin Heydon, a Fine Gael TD for Kildare South focused by junior legislators in Britain and Ireland found that Irish TDs
strongly on Newbridge, his constituency’s largest town. Heydon’s were significantly more active in their constituencies than British
Back to the Future inspired campaign also featured an election MPs3, undermining some FPTP supporters’ claims that you cannot
video in which Doc Brown warns of the consequences if Heydon is have proportionality without breaking the constituency link.
not re-elected focusing on such issues as a local ring-road2. Some of the campaigning may not look unusual to a British
Running with a slogan of ‘delivering on local issues with a audience – and indeed this is the point. STV produces fair out-
national impact’ Michael McDonagh’s leaflet is a demonstration comes, but it also incentivises local campaigning and constituency
of the way candidates often campaign (previous page). His ‘About service. Voters who want a candidate even more local than their
Malty’ section mentions his local links and prioritises local issues. wider constituency can get one if they choose to vote that way, and
candidates will respond to that.
2 See http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/election-2016/parish-pump/
watch-marty-heydon-has-got-his-flux-capacitor-out-to-solve-the-problem-in-
the-latest-downright-bonkers-election-video-34443484.html
3 See http://www.tcd.ie/Political_Science/undergraduate/module-outlines/js/
irish-politics/IrishPols/WoodYoungLSQ97.pdf
12 T H E I R I S H 2 016 G E N E R A L E L E C T I O N E L E C TO R A L R E F O R M S O C I E T Y 13
3 DIVERSIF YING THE DÁIL
Irish political life has traditionally suffered from poor rep-
resentation of women. While the outgoing Tanaiste (Deputy
Prime Minister) was a woman, and Ireland has had two female
Presidents, the Dáil has been slower than other chambers to
achieve a critical mass of gender representation. Just 25 of the TDs
elected in 2011 were women, 15.0% of the Dáil. This accounted for
a new record for women’s representation in the Dáil, albeit a rise of
just 3% since 1992 - incredibly slow progress.
In response to the disappointing representation of women in the
Dáil, gender quotas were introduced for this election. The gender
quota law stated that a party failing to have at least 30% of its can-
didates from either gender would have its public funding halved.
From 2019 the law also provides that parties must have lists of
candidates who are made up of at least 40% of both genders.
“ELECTION POSTERS-111863” by William Murphy is licensed under CC BY 2.0
E L E C TO R A L R E F O R M S O C I E T Y 15
SUMMARY OF THE NUMBER OF MALE AND FEMALE Fianna Fáil had failed to elect any women in 2011, part of the
CANDIDATES BY PART Y4 fallout of its rout that year. That the two largest parties only
Party Male Female % Female just passed the threshold suggests that gender quotas did indeed
Candidates Candidates Candidates increase women’s representation amongst candidates.
In only one constituency, Limerick County, were there no
Fine Gael 61 27 31%
female candidates and in only one, Kildare South, were women a
Fianna Fáil 49 22 31% majority of candidates. Nevertheless, voters across Ireland had the
Sinn Féin 32 18 36% option to give their vote to a variety of women candidates.
Labour Party 23 13 36% Overall the number of women candidates almost doubled from
the prior election when only 86 women stood.
Social Democrats 8 6 43%
Anti-Austerity Alliance 18 13 42% FEMALE AND MALE TDS
–People Before Profit
Party Male TDs Female TDs %Women TDs
Green Party 26 14 35%
Fine Gael 39 11 22%
Renua 18 8 31%
Fianna Fáil 38 6 14%
Direct Democracy 16 3 20%
Ireland Sinn Féin 17 6 26%
Fis Nua 0 2 100% Labour 5 2 29%
Workers’ Party 3 2 40% Anti-Austerity 4 2 33%
Alliance -
Catholic Democrats 1 2 67%
People Before
Independents 132 33 20% Profit
Overall 387 163 30% Social 1 2 67%
Democrats
All parties standing in the election exceeded the 30% thresh-
old for women, except for the minor right-wing party Direct Green Party 1 1 50%
Democracy Ireland which failed to win a single seat. Fis Nua, Independents 18 5 22%
a breakaway from the Green Party did not run any men for
Overall 123 35 22%
election, but given that it ran only two candidates this is perhaps
more understandable. The Dáil now has 35 women TDs, a rise of 10 compared to 2011
Perhaps the most notable figures are amongst larger parties, (when the Dáil was eight 8 TDs larger). This places the percentage
who made great efforts to reach the quota, with one Fianna Fáil of female TDs in the Dáil at 22%. This is a mixed performance.
activist taking the law to court to challenge its constitutionality, On the one hand, this is an increase of 7 percentage points since
claiming he had been excluded from selection on gender grounds5. 2011, when, to compare, the percentage of women in the Dáil grew
by just 3 percentage points between 1992 and 2011. On the other
hand, Ireland continues to lag severely behind similar countries in
4 Candidate gender data taken from this Northern Ireland Assembly
briefing: http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/globalassets/documents/raise/ terms of women’s representation. It now ranks 75th in the world in
publications/2016/general/2616.pdf terms of gender representation6 making it the worst performing EU
5 See http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/high-court/
fianna-f%C3%A1il-activist-loses-challenge-to-gender-quotas-law-1.2519326 6 Based on http://ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm
16 T H E I R I S H 2 016 G E N E R A L E L E C T I O N E L E C TO R A L R E F O R M S O C I E T Y 17nation in Western Europe.
Clearly then, the increase in women TDs has lagged behind
the increase in candidates. In 2011 women made up 15% of both
candidates and TDs elected. Women candidates won, on average,
1,000 fewer first preference votes than their male counterparts7 .
Yet it is worth remembering the large role played by incumben-
cy in elections. A 2013 study found that an incumbent is 18% more
likely to be elected8.
This is, in part, because all candidate-centred electoral systems,
such as Ireland’s STV, provide incentives for candidates to build up
their public profile and awareness among voters. New candidates
have to build personal support in a much shorter period of time,
and without the advantages of constituency service available to
incumbents.
This incumbency bonus can be seen in the results of certain
parties. Fianna Fáil’s punishing rout in 2011 left it with no women
TDs, hence electing more women was particularly difficult and
Fianna Fáil has the poorest representation of women in its ranks.
Notably, Sinn Féin, having elected 12 men and 2 women in 2011,
was this year able to elect the largest number of women of those
parties who received 10 or more seats.
Overall this pattern of incumbency suggests that the large
increase in women TDs at this election is likely to be replicated at
future elections, as new women TDs gain an incumbency bonus
and as women candidates from prior elections become more known
to the public. When the gender quota goes up to 40% in 2019 that
will likely also have positive benefits to women’s representation.
Hence, gender quotas in Ireland are likely to quickly ratchet up
Ireland’s previously poor representation of women to a figure much
closer to parity.
“Liffey” by Aapo Haapanen is licensed under CC BY 2.0
7 See http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/election-2016/women-are-second-
choice-in-general-election-2016-34493382.html
8 http://eprints.maynoothuniversity.ie/4583/1/N241-13.pdf
18 T H E I R I S H 2 016 G E N E R A L E L E C T I O N4 LESSONS FOR THE UK
The 2016 Irish general election marked an important moment in
Irish political history. As in many other countries, Irish politics has
seen a significant fragmentation in recent years, and this election
continues that trend. Anger at establishment politics saw strong
performances for a variety of smaller parties and independents.
At the time of writing cooperation between Fine Gael and Fianna
Fáil seems likely, either through a grand coalition or one party
supporting a minority government of the other from outside.
This would be unprecedented, but potentially healthy, and would
arguably be a fair reflection of public will enabled by a proportion-
al voting system.
Ireland’s politics stand in contrast to the UK. Some of those
differences are negative - Ireland lags behind the rest of Western
Europe on gender representation, for instance, but the introduction
of gender quotas is likely to markedly increase gender diversity
in time.
As we have seen, however, Ireland’s election campaigns and
politics are locally focused, a feature facilitated by use of the STV
system. STV allows for, even encourages, local campaigning, some-
“Leinster_House,_Dublin,” by Ardfern is licensed under CC BY 3.0
times even more local than the constituency itself, with candidates
appealing to geographic locales within their constituency such as
individual towns.
This is laudable. While some complain that politics can be too
local in Ireland – at times victim to ‘pork-barrel politics’, it should
be said that if STV was introduced in the UK politics would not be-
have exactly the same. Just as many other countries with the same
electoral systems can have very differing party politics. The wider
political system, democratic culture and other aspects of a country
shape its politics, often more than its voting system. Nevertheless,
the Irish political system and this election demonstrate how
proportionality and a local constituency link can happily co-exist.
E L E C TO R A L R E F O R M S O C I E T Y 215 CONCLUSION
The elections of 2016 in Ireland were an earthquake in Irish
politics. Presenting a shift to a more multi-party system, the results
were a reflection of the rapidly changing party loyalties and the
individualisation of politics that is happening across much of
Europe. With voters supporting an ever wider range of parties – as
well as independents, it’s fascinating to examine the results – and
the campaign – in detail.
While there are significant differences, Irish politics can still
offer lessons for the UK. Party loyalties are breaking down in
Britain, as in Ireland. The last General Election saw the highest
result for parties outside the Conservatives, Labour and the
Liberal Democrats ever. Yet Westminster’s archaic voting system
stops these views being translated into representation – with, for
example, the Greens and UKIP getting five million votes between
them but just two seats.
There is an alternative. Ireland’s voting system shows you can
have a proportional voting system while retaining a local link,
with candidates in multi-seat constituencies focusing on their
local areas. We can genuinely have the best of both worlds – a
constituency link and a voting system that fairly reflects voters’
choices. Moreover, it offers a chance to experiment with ways of
diversifying politics away from the ‘usual suspects’ – whether
that’s through gender quotas or simply utilising the multi-seat
nature of the system to put up a range of candidates, as opposed
to First Past the Post’s safe seats culture that prioritises, ‘safe’
seeming candidates.
No one can predict where Irish politics goes from here. But its
voting system has allowed for significant change, and for voters
to express their changing loyalties. It’s a lesson we can certainly
learn from in the UK.
Katie Ghose, Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society
Photo: Gus Palmer
E L E C TO R A L R E F O R M S O C I E T Y 23Party Fine Gael Labour Sinn Féin Fianna Fáil Labour Party New Vision Independent Socialist Green Independent Independent
Party Party Party
Candidate Terence Tommy Larry Averil Power Seán Kenny Eamonn Jimmy Brian David Raymond Robert
Flanagan Broughan O’Toole Blaney Guerin Greene Healy Sexton Eastwood
% 1st 29.50% 23.90% 12.00% 11.50% 10.40% 4.20% 3.10% 2.10% 1.90% 0.80% 0.60%
Count 1 12,332 10,006 5,032 4,794 4,365 1,773 1,285 869 792 351 242
Count 2 10,738 5,120 5,013 4,728 1,894 1,419 893 919 391 264
Count 3 5,143 5,036 4,885 1,913 1,447 897 934 397 267
Count 4 5,179 5,109 4,985 2,099 1,572 935 987
Count 5 5,477 5,134 5,216 2,233 1,685 1,049
Count 6 5,554 5,314 5,580 2,401 1,799
Count 7 5,754 5,579 6,000 2,955
Count 8 6,262 6,041 7,013
Count 9 6,923 9,369
Appendix - A Working STV Example
The count from Dublin North East in 2011 is an excellent demon- Larry O’Toole. At this point Kenny moved ahead of Fianna Fáil’s
stration of the functioning of STV. The quota in this three member Averil Power who had received poor preferences from Greene. The
seat was 10,460. The votes distributed as follows. Green Party’s David Healy was eliminated next, with votes tending
To work through this table, Terence Flanagan of Fine Gael won to benefit Sean Kenny, who now moved into first place amongst
12,322 votes of first preferences in the first round and was thus remaining candidates, albeit well shy of a quota. Eliminations
deemed elected. His vote was 1,872 over the quota and hence 1,872 followed for Independent Jimmy Guerin, New Vision’s Eamonn
votes were redistributed to other candidates. Of these 732 votes Blaney, and Fianna Fáil’s Averil Power, leaving Sinn Féin’s Larry
had second preferenced Labour’s Tommy Broughan, and another O’Toole and the Labour Party’s Sean Kenny the only two remain-
363 had supported Labour’s Sean Kenny. This was unsurprising ing candidates. Neither candidate had reached the quota, but as
as there were no other Fine Gael candidates and Labour was O’Toole had fewer votes than Kenny and would be eliminated next
perceived as the likeliest coalition partner. This moved Broughan Kenny was deemed elected.
above the quota as well, though only just, and his excess 278 The system therefore produced three candidates who closely
votes were redistributed, with the majority of this relatively small represented the mix of opinions of the Dublin North East constit-
figure going to his running mate, Kenny. At this point in the count uency. 34.3% had voted for Labour candidates, with many votes
no new candidates had passed quota and so two independents, in parties to Labour’s left, hence it is only natural that while
Raymond Sexton and Robert Eastwood were eliminated as neither Kenny came fifth on first preferences he was eventually elected as
could mathematically win. On round 4 the far-left Socialist Party’s transfers flowed to him and away from Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin,
Brian Greene was eliminated, with his preferences principally two parties who were either deeply unpopular or controversial.
flowing to the other left-wing candidates of Kenny and Sinn Féin’s
24 T H E I R I S H 2 016 G E N E R A L E L E C T I O N E L E C TO R A L R E F O R M S O C I E T Y 252-6 Boundary Row London SE1 8HP United Kingdom Email: ers@electoral-reform.org.uk Phone: 020 3714 4070 Facebook: electoralreformsociety Twitter: @electoralreform www.electoral-reform.org.uk
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